Swell by Lauren Davies Read Free Book Online Page B

front of the house and raised my arm to knock on the doorframe but it swung open before my fist connected with the wood. The unmistakeable sweet aroma of marijuana wafted through the fly screen.
    ‘Who da fuck are you?’ said another man through the screen whose tattoos had also crawled onto his face and neck.
    I assumed he was assigned to door duty but if he had aspirations as a butler he really had to work on his greeting.
    ‘I’m Bailey Brown,’ I said with a forced smile.
    The man looked me up and down and ran a thick tongue across his lips. They were outlined with a white residue that could either have been salt water or cocaine. I shifted my feet under his sexually charged gaze but stood my ground.
    ‘Who is it, Brah?’ said a voice from inside the house.
    ‘Some English wahine called Bailey, Brah. She got a good rack.’
    I glanced down at my breasts.
    ‘Kind of you to notice. Now on a more professional note, I wondered if I could have a word with Cain Ohana. I’m writing a book on Jason Cross and I needed Cain’s input.’
    The screen slid forcibly across and Cain Ohana appeared behind the burly bouncer. In contrast, he was willowy and handsome with defined bone structure and eyes as black as my hair. He wore a T-shirt slashed at the shoulders to reveal muscular arms tanned darker than the true local. The fabric clung to his torso like the skin on a sausage. There was not an ounce of fat on his body. Cain shook his head as if he had hair but it was shaved so close to his scalp I could not tell what colour his hair would naturally have been.
    ‘You need my input, huh? And what input would that be?’
    ‘Your dick put in her mouth,’ the tattooed oaf roared, finding himself hilarious.
    ‘Shut up, Brah,’ said Cain, smacking his friend on the arm.
    He looked me up and down.
    ‘You know people don’t usually just rock up here uninvited asking for things and get away with it.’
    I raised my chin.
    ‘I’m not most people, Cain.’
    He stared at me then a smile spread across his face, his teeth as white as the flesh of a coconut. He looked surprisingly friendly when he smiled.
    ‘I like your style, Sista,’ he said, then held out a hand and guided me into the house.
    I kicked off my sandals at the door, as was the Hawaiian custom, and slipped past him into an open plan sitting room and kitchen. The first thing I noticed was the number of bodies slumped around the room, many semi-naked. Surfboards covered every spare inch of floor and walls. The faces of the Tiger Sharks and their girls turned to inspect the intruder. Cain Ohana slipped a warm arm around my shoulders as we made our way across the room and lowered his mouth to my ear. His voice made me shiver.
    ‘Don’t mind my friend, he’s got a big mouth. Sure I’ll give you my input. I heard about you and your book.’
    ‘Really? How?’
    ‘This surfing world’s a tight knit community. We don’t miss much.’
    His attempt at cosiness unsettled me. I tried to force myself to relax and accepted a bottle of cold beer from the over-sized fridge.
    ‘I just need to ask you some questions about your rivalry with Jason.’
    Cain slowly swallowed his beer. His Adam’s apple was prominent in his slim neck.
    ‘Sure thing,’ he said. ‘Come out on the lanai and we can talk.’
    I nodded and made to squeeze past Cain as he rested against the work surface.
    ‘Talk first,’ he said, burning into me with eyes so deep they made me gasp, ‘get to know each other later.’

CHAPTER EIGHT
    After a nervous start, we talked for over two hours uninterrupted by the crowd of people in the house who clearly thought midday was an appropriate time to start partying again.
    ‘Are they your family?’ I asked.
    Cain lifted his legs onto the table in front of us. I noticed he had slightly webbed feet. I was about to comment on whether webbed feet helped him in the water, but he was already talking and I didn’t want to interrupt his flow.
    ‘They might as well be